BLOG TOUR: The River Home by Hannah Richell

In their ramshackle Somerset home, its gardens running down to the river, the Sorrells have gathered for a last-minute wedding.

Lucy is desperate to reunite her fractured family. Eve is fighting to keep her perfect life together. Their mother, Kit, a famous author whose stories have run dry, still seethes with resentment towards her youngest child. And Margot, who left home eight years ago under a black cloud, is forced to come face to face with her darkness…

As the family come together for a week of celebration and confrontation, their relationships are stretched to breaking point. Can you ever heal the wounds of the past? Or will it always rise up to haunt you – like the echoes of a summer’s night, like the relentless flow of a river…   

Publisher: Orion

The River Home is Hannah Richell’s third book but the first I have read by this author. It is fantastic and I was completely captivated by her story. 

Margot returns home to Somerset for her sister Lucy’s impromptu wedding, their older sister Eve has gone into planning mode and their mother Kit, a famous author, is not overjoyed at Margot’s return. Margot left for Edinburgh eight years ago after her actions shocked her whole family; she has been running away from her past ever since but now she has no choice but to return to where it all happened. 

The River Home has so many elements that I love in a book, mystery, family tensions, a ramshackle family home, an author as a central character. I was hooked from the beginning and I could not believe how many different story-lines Richell weaved throughout the story. Eve, Margot and Lucy all have their own individual plots and they are linked by their parents Kit and Ted who have a story to tell too. I was impressed with how Richell linked it all together, moving from the past to the present, showing the turmoil within the family unit. We do not find out what Margot did and why until the very end, the truth is heartbreaking and not what I had expected. 

I loved how Richell presented the dysfunctional family element, it reminded me of Fleabag a little with the simmering tensions between the different family members. I liked all of the sisters but Margot stood out. As the youngest she was almost abandoned at a really hard time in her childhood, her parents had just split up with her father leaving; her one sister had left to start her own family, the other sister had left to start her own business and her mother was off in her own world writing her book. You can’t help but feel anger at them for not realising how vulnerable Margot was. She was crying out for one of them to help her but everyone she cared for was caught up in their own lives.

Hannah Richell delves into the complex nature of family relationships, the triumphs and the tragedies that are involved. Her characters leap out at you from the page, fully formed with all their flaws. The River Home is an impressive novel that you won’t want to put down. Many thanks to Orion for inviting me to be part of this blog tour!